Organic Free Range Human Thoughts

Big Left
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  • Entrepreneurship

Life is real. Business is real life. And b******t advice doesn’t apply. This is a business podcast that actually goes there—into growth, leadership, risk, and the parts no one wants to talk about without dressing it up in artificial, polished nonsense. Hosted by James Ellis, owner of Big Left—armed with more degrees than ABCs and a level of experience we’d die of old age trying to list—and Tabitha Starr, owner of Slight Look, MBA (currently residing on the floor of her closet), and proud former member of the dark side of business. This is a business podcast like no other. Leaders and entrepreneurs—gird your loins.

  1. 5d ago

    Good Good Golf & Other Companies That Lit Themselves On Fire

    Good Good Golf & Other Companies That Lit Themselves on Fire How does a company get an idea from “Hey, this could be funny” to “Oh shit, we may have just destroyed our brand”? That's the question we're asking after the very real-time controversy surrounding Good Good Golf and its now-deleted Callaway Golf advertisement. In this episode of Organic Free-Range Human Thoughts, we're looking at the Good Good Golf situation through a business, marketing, branding, and crisis-management lens. What happens when a controversial idea makes it through the creative process, gets approved, gets published, and only afterward, when everything is now on fire, does everyone realize that maybe—just maybe—it was a terrible f*****g idea? Then we take a trip through the business-disaster archives. Because Good Good Golf isn't the first company to accidentally—or spectacularly—set its own reputation on fire. Disclaimer: We’re not making light of or minimizing the serious topics discussed. We’re exploring the circumstances, decisions, and events that led to them in the first place. Our commentary is based on publicly reported information and reflects our own opinions for discussion and entertainment purposes. We’re not lawyers, this isn’t legal advice, and please don’t sue us. Sources & Referenced Material Rihanna / Snapchat: NPR · BBC · The New York Times · The Guardian Balenciaga: The Guardian · CNN Peloton: The Guardian · ScreenRant · Variety · NPR · CNET

  2. Aug 24

    The Poop Cruise: A Business Disaster From Hell

    What do you do when your business is literally on fire, 4,500 customers are stranded at sea, the toilets don't work, and everyone suddenly has Wi-Fi? Well, somebody has to figure it the f**k out. In this episode of Organic Free-Range Human Thoughts, we take a very different look at Netflix's Trainwreck: Poop Cruise—not just as a bizarre cruise disaster, but as a business crisis management case study. Imagine you're the business consultant who gets the call after the fire. The ship has lost power. The toilets don't work. Passengers are trapped in the Gulf of Mexico. Communication is a mess. Customers are furious. The media is circling. And then, somehow, someone decides opening the bar is a good idea. What do you do? We get into crisis management, business operations, customer experience, reputation management, crisis communication, business continuity, risk management, and what happens when a company waits too long to solve a problem. Because the Poop Cruise wasn't just a disaster at sea. It was a masterclass in what happens when a problem keeps getting worse, communication falls apart, and nobody seems to have a f*****g plan. So if you were the business consultant called in when everything had already gone to shit… where would you start? Grab a drink, watch Trainwreck: Poop Cruise, and let's u****k the situation. Images from Netflix Trainwreck: Poop Cruise

  3. Aug 17

    What Can Obsession and The Backrooms Teach Us About Business?

    What can Obsession and The Backrooms teach us about business? Apparently, a hell of a lot. In this episode of Organic Free-Range Human Thoughts, we start with a question that has absolutely no business being a business question: why are some low-budget, relatively unknown movies taking off while Hollywood keeps spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the same familiar ideas? From Obsession and The Backrooms to The Blair Witch Project, we talk about what happens when someone takes a chance on an original idea instead of throwing more money at the thing that already worked. And then, naturally, we make it about business. Because the same thing happens with startups and small businesses. We get into entrepreneurship, business ideas, startup costs, bootstrapping, business strategy, risk-taking, innovation, execution, distribution, private equity, consolidation, and why having a great idea is only the beginning. So what can horror movies teach us about building a business? Turns out: more than another superhero movie ever could.

  4. Aug 11

    From Networking to Dating: What the Hell Is LinkedIn For?

    Is LinkedIn the new dating app? Apparently, somebody forgot to tell us when that happened. In this episode of Organic Free-Range Human Thoughts, we dive into the increasingly weird line between LinkedIn networking and online dating. Why are people using LinkedIn to find romantic partners? Is your professional profile becoming a dating profile? And when did “let’s connect” start sounding suspiciously like “let’s go on a date”? We talk about LinkedIn dating, dating apps, professional networking, online romance, dating in the digital age, and the strange ways people use social media to vet potential partners. We also get into the bigger question underneath all of it: how much do career success, money, job titles, and professional status actually influence who we date? Because apparently, your LinkedIn profile can now tell someone more than what you do for a living. It can tell them whether you're single, successful, ambitious, financially stable—or potentially just really good at golf. And if you're wondering whether people are actually using LinkedIn for dating, whether you should be flirting in someone's LinkedIn DMs, or whether checking out a potential date's professional profile counts as research or stalking… well, we've got thoughts. Is LinkedIn for networking, job hunting, personal branding, or finding a soulmate? Apparently, we're all still figuring that out. 🎙️ Listen to Organic Free-Range Human Thoughts for unfiltered conversations about business, culture, relationships, technology, and the weird shit happening in between. Sources for images and quoted material: NewsNation · Yahoo · Newsweek · CNBC · Business Insider

  5. Aug 3

    The Boring Businesses Making Tons of Money

    What do trash companies, electricity providers, toilet paper subscriptions, porta potties, and OnlyFans have in common? More than you'd think. This week we're diving into the surprisingly profitable world of "boring" businesses—the companies most people never think about but use every single day. Somewhere between talking about trash collection and luxury porta potties, we accidentally uncover why convenience, recurring revenue, and solving everyday problems are some of the smartest business models around. From business ideas and recurring revenue to entrepreneurship, pricing psychology, passive income myths, and scalable business models, this episode explores why the most ordinary businesses often make the most extraordinary money. Somewhere along the way: We become weirdly fascinated with trash companies.Tabitha discovers she's been marketed to… again.James explains why people will happily pay extra for warm tacos.Somebody seriously considers luxury festival bathrooms.It's chaotic. It's surprisingly educational. And you'll never look at a trash truck or a porta potty the same way again. And you can always follow James at https://www.instagram.com/big.left.consulting/ and visit his website at http://bigleft.com You can find Tabitha at https://www.instagram.com/slight.look.official/ and visit her website at http://slightlook.com

  6. Jul 30

    Hot Takes: Business Superstitions

    Catch our latest full episode of Organic Free Range Human Thoughts wherever your heart desires: Spotify, Apple, or YouTube 🎙️

  7. Jul 27

    This Is Definitely Not Financial Advice

    What do Beanie Babies, Bitcoin, trad wives, roadside gumbo, and a suspicious gas station have in common? Apparently... this episode. We start by joking about launching a spiritually themed cryptocurrency (please don't), then somehow end up debating whether money is real, why people keep chasing the next big thing, and how "debt" magically becomes "leverage" once you're rich. From Bitcoin and cryptocurrency to crypto scams, NFTs, digital currency, and the psychology behind investing, we unpack the trends shaping today's financial conversations with plenty of laughs along the way. Somewhere along the way: We accidentally invent Soul Coin.James questions all of modern finance.Tabitha becomes suspicious of an entire gas station.Nobody gives financial advice.It's chaotic. It's surprisingly educational. And you'll probably never look at cryptocurrency or Beanie Babies the same way again.

  8. Jul 21

    Business Lessons from Netflix's Shipwreck: Nightmare at Sea

    This week, we're taking a very different approach to Netflix's Shipwreck: Nightmare at Sea and the tragic sinking of the Costa Concordia on January 13, 2012. This isn't a documentary review. It's a business autopsy. We're looking at what went wrong through the lens of leadership, organizational culture, crisis management, decision-making, incentives, communication failures, and plain old human behavior. Why did people make the decisions they made? Who was trying to protect their job? Where did the company fail? Which leaders stepped up—and which ones absolutely did not? Fair warning: we tackle serious topics with a healthy dose of dark humor. You'll hear us laugh, crack jokes, and occasionally ask questions like, "Why the hell did the captain never tell people to abandon ship?" That's not because we find the tragedy funny. We don't. Thirty-two people lost their lives, and our hearts genuinely go out to the victims, their families, and everyone whose lives were forever changed by what happened aboard the Costa Concordia. Our humor comes from the absurdity of the organizational failures—not the human loss. If that style isn't for you, that's completely okay. Skip this episode and check out another one. We'd rather you enjoy the podcast than spend an hour being annoyed by us. But if you've ever wondered how two people with decades of business, leadership, and organizational experience watch a disaster like this and immediately start dissecting every catastrophic professional decision that led to it, you're going to have a great time. Because when you zoom out, this wasn't just a shipwreck. It was one of the most spectacular business and leadership failures imaginable. And you can always follow James at https://www.instagram.com/big.left.consulting/ and visit his website at http://bigleft.com You can find Tabitha at  https://www.instagram.com/slight.look.official/ and visit her website at http://slightlook.com

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About

Life is real. Business is real life. And b******t advice doesn’t apply. This is a business podcast that actually goes there—into growth, leadership, risk, and the parts no one wants to talk about without dressing it up in artificial, polished nonsense. Hosted by James Ellis, owner of Big Left—armed with more degrees than ABCs and a level of experience we’d die of old age trying to list—and Tabitha Starr, owner of Slight Look, MBA (currently residing on the floor of her closet), and proud former member of the dark side of business. This is a business podcast like no other. Leaders and entrepreneurs—gird your loins.

Information

  • Creator
    Big Left
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Big Left